Points of Quality

[takasi]

The world and story don't have to be as compelling as they were in older editions become I'm still focusing on the changes to the rules.

As an aside, I think this is also one of the reasons people prefer to use older, more familiar systems. They would prefer that players find less enjoyment with the mechanics and pay more attention to the NPCs and setting.

 

[Snoweel]

It's hard to write a good story-heavy adventure for a group (players and characters) that you don't know. This includes every adventure written for the market.

There will inevitably either be a lot of railroading or a lot of dungeons (which is a form of railroad itself).

The only true free-form 'branching' adventures for sale are campaign settings. And even they require a lot of work and creativity to personalise for your group.

 

[delericho]

I look back at all of the good stuff that has come out at the end of 3.5e's reign. Pathfinder. Shackled City. Ptolus...

All 3rd party products, I'll note.

I suspect you'll find that things improve significantly once the GSL comes online and products start rolling out. They should really improve about a year from now, once Goodman and Mongoose (and whoever fills the Paizo/Malhavoc vacuum) really get to grips with what the system can do and start stretching it.

For now, though, is there any reason you can't convert "Second Darkness" or "Ptolus", or whatever else, to use the late-3e fluff with the shiny new 4e mechanics? It's not an ideal solution, but it is a solution of sorts.

 

[Jack99]

But I disagree. Dungeon's Adventure Path series revived the magazines and made it possible for Paizo to exist as it's own entity. They had a legitimate hold on half of the D&D populace as far as I can tell. The demand is there, I think.

Could you explain what you mean with the bolded part?

 

[Snoweel]

Could you explain what you mean with the bolded part?

I think he means the Adventure Paths were very popular.

 

[Rechan]

You know, it's fairly short, but I actually thought Dark Heart of Mithrendain has a nice story to it. At least, it has the opportunity to be properly fleshed out.

The key here is a skill challenge where the PCs have to figure out which councilors on a council are corrupt. It happens during a gala. I think it's at least got potential.

 

[delericho]

Again, supply and demand?

No matter what you think of the quality, Keep on the Shadowfell probably outsold anything that Paizo or third party publishers have sold...

There's something in that.

WotC, by virtue of the size of the company, require each product to sell X units in order to be worth producing. Paizo, Goodman, Green Ronin and the like, due to having smaller overheads, need only sell Y units, where Y is much, much smaller than X.

Additionally, role-play heavy adventures appeal to a very limited subset of groups: those who will run the adventure (close to) as-written. By contrast, combat-heavy adventures are more flexible - given an interesting locale and opponents a DM can adjust the adventure to be find-the-mcguffin, rescue-the-princess, or whatever style of adventure he wishes. As such, they are inherently more likely to sell well.

That being the case, WotC can't really be blamed for going for the 'low hanging fruit' that dungeoncrawls represent. I suspect even these adventures are barely profitable. (However, with Dungeon back in-house, and on a subscription model, there is an opportunity to take more risks with adventure styles. If two adventures per month are good quality dungeoncrawls, good enough to sustain sales, this would allow them to experiment with the third, if they were so inclined.)

And it's not as if the third-party produce a lot of RP-heavy adventures. As noted, Goodman and Necromancer specialise in old-school dungeoncrawls (although, I've noted a surprising amount of RP-opportunity even in something like "Castle Whiterock"). And Paizo have produced their fair share, with "Age of Worms" and "Seven Swords of Sin" immediately springing to mind as examples.

Besides, good RP-heavy adventures would appear to be extremely hard to write well. Sure, the Freeport trilogy were solid, but the WFRP adventures I've read (also from Green Ronin) are rather poor. (Specifically, the "Paths of the Damned" trilogy, and "Barony of the Damned".) Given the choice, I'll take a good dungeoncrawl over a poor RP-heavy adventure any time.